Stenographic machine



March 21 195G M. DEN OUTER STENOGRAPHIC MACHINE Filed June 6, 1946 Patented Mar. 21, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application June 6, 1946, Serial No. 674,818 In the Netherlands August "18, 1942 Section 1,.Bu'blicILaw 690,, August 8., 1946 Patent expires August '18, 19.62

3 I Claims.

This invention relates to a shorthand-typewriter or stenographic-machine-which is particularly'adapted tobe used by blind people.

Up till now stenographic machines for blind men are'known in which the writingis formed on *apaper band passing through the machine in a definite blind code, as a rule in the Braille'code, 'e. the various characters are constituted by combination of a number of points appearing in relief on thepaper. "The drawback of these known machines is that the writing appearing on the paper band cannot 'be read by every seeing person, but is only comprehensible for those who are familiar with the Braille type or with other embossed signs for blind men. This is especially of great disad- "vantage, since, as a rule, a stenogram recorded 'in the machine by a blind man can be 'deciphered only by himself and not by a seeing person.

Another drawback is that the writing produced 'bythe machine can only be read at a relatively low speed, as the blind man is forced to palpate' the embossed signs according to'their shape and configuration, in order to enable him to ascertain their signification. In view'of the fact that the embossed "points and the signs obtained by their combination are tied down to certain minimum dimensions, the consequence is that in general the machine itself will be .also of rather larger dimensions and there will be consumed a relatively "large quantity of paper.

object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks and to. provide a stenc- "graphic machine, the writing of which is easily "legible for blind as well as for seeing men.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a. stenographic machine especially adapted .to be used by blind men and producing a writing in embossed Latin characters. A 'feature of the invention is the use of a so-called 'syllable-typewriter in which with a single operatingstroke the Latin characters constituting a syllable of a word may be simultaneously recorded, and which is provided with a keyboard, each key of which corresponds with onl one definite type, all the types of the machine making "their impressions on a paper band in ahorizontal row beside each other and each of them on a definite placein the width of the said paper band.

The types of the syllable-typewriter cooperate with the paper band in such a manner that, when --depressing the keys controlling the types, the writing appears on the paper band in legible :and palpable relief.

-A particular featureof the invention lies in the fact that'the blind man, in palpating "th embossedwriting, nee notdistinguish the-form and consequently "the nature of the characters, but it is only necessary for him, by feeling the elevations in the paper, to ascertain on what definite places of the paper'band-a character is to be found. Since in syllable-typewriters the several types always strike on the same unchangeable places'in the width of the paperband, the blind man, who knows already the whole keyboard by heart to enable him to "work with "the machine, only needs 'to know yet in which sequence and on which definite places the characters appear on the paper band. Now, since'the embossedcharacters only serve to make theblind man feel elevations on definite places of the paper band, the characters and the types, as .well as the whole machine may be executed in normal dimensions. Moreover, the embossed characters, in comparison with the usual embossed points for'blind type, present the great advantage that they are much more durable, i. e. that they do not disappear so rapidly from the paper. When using embossed points, one can hardly feel the elevations after a number of ,palpations or after having exerted a certain pressure on the paper, but the embossed characters,'according to the present invention, which constitute more or less a structural bond due to the embossed lines running in various directions, practically always remain equally well palpable.

The invention may be applied with particular advantage in syllable-typewriters comprisingonly by the fingers of the blind man, so that the de- *to the row ofpharacters. Such "lines or rows of sonants and the final consonants, respectively,

and into a middlemost group for the vowels.

Preferably, according to the present invention,

the members cooperating with the paper band are formed by toothed or milled guiding wheels serving at the same time for feeding the paper band.

In order to obtain on the paper band embossed characters which are as distinct as possible and well perceptible, the paper band according to the invention may further be guided along a striplike member comprising a cavity or a mould cor responding with the row of characters and in which the types of the machine are struck when the keys are depressed.

In the accompanying drawing an embodiment of a stenographie machine for blind people according to the present invention has been illus trated by way of example.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section of the machine and shows a type-lever as well as a toothed guiding wheel for feeding the paper band.

Fig. 2 shows the operating mechanism for driving the toothed guiding wheels and feeding the paper band.

Fig. 3 is a view of a portion of the paper band, shown approximately in full size.

The syllable-typewriter illustrated in the drawing has a keyboard comprising 22 keys for characters and a special space key. Each character key I is arranged at the end of a lever 2 rotatably mounted on a shaft 3 secured in the frame of the machine. The other extremity of the lever 2 is actuated by a compression spring 4 keeping the lever in its inoperative position and pushing it against an abutment 5 of the frame. Between the axis of rotation 3 and the spring 4 the lever 2 carries the character type 6. the types of the various type levers are arranged beside each other on a straight line and cooperate with a striplike member I provided with a .cavity ormould 8 corresponding with the row of characters and in which the types6 are struck when the keys I are depressed. The member I is preferably made of tin or a similar soft metal in which, by hammering the character types, the

.shape of the said types is formed in low relief.

Below the member I passes the paper band 9 which is guided, further to the rear, between a roller Ill and four spaced toothed guiding wheels II. These guiding wheels II, which serve to :form the separating lines I2 in the paper band 9 (vide Fig.3) and a ratchet wheel I3 are rigidly connected with a shaft I4 rotatably mounted in .the machine frame. The teeth of the wheels II are preferably somewhat countersunk in the roller I0, so that the roller III presents four circumferential grooves corresponding with the four wheels I I.

When a key I is depressed, the left arm of the type lever 2 is moved in upward direction against the actionofthe spring 4. The type Ii enters the cavity 8 of the striplike member I,

All

a rod I8 connected therewith in upward direction. This rod I8 is connected to a lever 20 rotatably mounted on a shaft I9 and actuating,

by means of a link bar 2I, a controlling wheel 22 loosely mounted upon the shaft I4. This controlling wheel 22 is provided with a pawl 23 which is preferably resilient and adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel I3. In depressing a key I, the controlling wheel 22 is turned to the right against the action of a drawspring 24 and moves in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2. The pawl 23 then slides over the teeth of the ratchet wheel I3 and at the end of the rotating movement engages a tooth of the said wheel. When the key I is now released, the controlling wheel 22 actuated by its spring 24 returns into its original position, whereby the pawl 23 causes the ratchet wheel I3 and consequently the shaft I4 to turn to the left. The wheels II now pull the paper band forward in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig.- 1, thereby forming the embossed lines I2 in the paper.

The feeding movement of the paper band which is effected in the described manner with great reliability, also takes place when the space key 25 is depressed. This key is attached to a lever 26 rotatable on a shaft 21 and carrying about in the middle a pin or similar projection 28. This projection 28 cooperates with the free extremity of the lever I6, when the space key 25 is depressed.

In Fig. 3 first the 22 characters of the shorthand-typewriter have been represented beside each other on a single line. These characters correspond with the characters of the keyboard according to my U. S. Letters Patent No.

2,154,577, which is preferably applied in the stenographic machine for blind people according to the invention. All these characters have their standing places on the paper band 9. It should be noted that the machine is not provided with a shift key and consequently each definite place in the width of the paper band cannot be occupied by more than one definite character. By the embossed lines I2 the characters are divided into three groups. The first group comprises the initial consonants, they second group the vowels and the third group the final consonants. The blind man who is work- .ing with the machine and, therefore, should already know the situation of the various keys of the keyboard, further only needs to know, for the decipherment of the writing produced by the machine, the sequence or the places occupied by the characters on the paper band. The-lines I2 afford him a very eflicient orientation during the decipherment of the writing. During the decipherment the characters need not be palpated by the blind man according to their shape, but it is sufiicient, when he feels at which places the paper shows an elevation.

The above mentioned division of the row of characters into three groups enables the blind .man to read the stenogram obtained by the machine with three fingers. To that end he puts his fore-finger, his middle-finger and his ringfinger upon the initial consonants, the vowels and the final; consonants, i.; e. in the first, second and third column, respectively. Thus the blind man reads all the characters, of which the syllable is composed, simultaneously and consequently he can read much quicker than is possible in Braille type, since it is herewith only possible to read character after character. Moreover the reading only requires the use of one hand, Whereas the other hand remains completely free for other operations.

Due to the fact that in the writing according to the invention each character is defined for the blind man by a single impression of palpation (which is realized by the small embossed character, in distinction to the Braille type, in which e. g. for the frequently used character n the blind man has already to assimilate 4 points, i. e. 4 impressions of palpation), and in consequence of the above mentioned method of reading with three fingers, which assures a reasonable distribution of the work over the said three fingers, the great advantage is obtained that each finger is only subjected to a small percentageof the totally required number of palpating impressions, thus avoiding the so-called dull-feeling (becoming insensible for impressions) and enabling the blind man to read much longer at a stretch.

As was to be expected, experimentations in practice have proved that the embossed writing according to the invention may be read by blind back face of the paper band, so as to form the characters in legible and palpable high relief on the front face of the said paper band, and means for stepwise feeding the paper band after each depression of the keys, said means comprising a set of guiding members with projections cooper,- ating with the back face of the paper band so as to form spaced lines in high relief on the front face and in longitudinal direction of the paper band.

2. In a syllable-typewriter the combination of a number of embossing types executed in Latin characters, an equal number of keys controlling the types for causing the same to strike on the back face of a paper band, and toothed guiding members for feeding the paper band and for simultaneously forming therein spaced embossed people for a long time very rapidly and without making errors. Moreover the writing is distinctly visible and therefore well legible for seeing people, since owing to the cooperation of the character types with the character moulds in the striplike member I, very distinct embossed char- The text printed on the paper band in Fig. 3

runs: In reply to your letter of yesterday. What I claim is: 1. In a stenographic machine for recording syllables on spaced horizontal lines of a paper band, a keyboard including a number of keys, a

i set of types controlled by said keys and executed in Latin characters and cooperating with the 0 Number lines in longitudinaldirection so as to divide the embossed characters appearing on the paper band into a number of groups.

3. In a syllable-typewriter the combination of a number of embossing types executed in Latin characters and comprising a group for initial consonants, a group for vowels and a group for final consonants from left to right, an equal number of keys controlling the types for causing, the same to strike on the back face of a paper band,

and four toothed guiding members for feeding the paper band and for simultaneously forming therein four spaced embossed lines in longitudinal direction so as to divide the embossed characters appearing on the paper band into a group for the initial consonants, a group for the vowels and a group for the final consonants from left to right.

MARIUS DEN OUTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Michela Feb. 25, 1879 De Celada Oct. 21, 1884 Anderson Sept. 10, 1889 Kirby et al July 23, 1895 Number FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date 515,484 France of 1920 Spiro Nov. 16, 1915 

